1. Field Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for carrying skates, and more particularly to an apparatus for carrying in-line skates.
2. Description of Prior Art
In-line skating is an extremely popular sport for all ages. Skating is usually done on hard concrete or asphalt surfaces in local parks, cities, or recreational areas. This requires the skates to be transported to locations suitable for this sports activity. The difficult is that in-line skates are bulky and difficult to handle when the user is trying to carry them by hand.
There have been various types of carriers designed in an attempt to make transporting in-line skates more manageable. For example, one device for carrying in-line skates has a main body that has two slots cut out of it that accept either in-line or ice skate blades. Straps are connected to the main body that wrap around the boot of each skate and hold the skate in the described slots. An additional strap is connected to the top of the body to allow the assembly to be carried by one hand of the user. The device further contains hockey stick slots in the main body of the unit that are lined with rubber type material. The rubber material is attached to the sidewalls of the slots in order to interference fit with the hockey stick handles and retain the stick handles in the slots.
The difficulty with such a device is that it is bulky and requires a number or components (three straps, two rubber type liners, and at least five strap connection devices). These components must be assembled onto the main body of the device or onto the ends of the straps or both. This significantly adds to the cost of the unit, making it undesirable for the average skater. Also, the device does not have any ability to hold a hockey puck or street hockey ball. These items are frequently transported at the same time as the skates.
There are also carriers that are configured to transport ice skates. However, ice-skate carriers are typically long and define slots that receive the entire length of the skate blade. Such ice skate carriers are not appropriate for in-line skates since in-line skates have large and bulky blades containing wheels and bearings. A corresponding carrier that is configured to receive the length and width of an in-line skate blade also would be large and bulky. Such a carrier would be heavy, difficult to manage, and defeat the purpose of having a carrier.
Therefore, a compact, lightweight, inexpensive, in-line skate carrier that will also carry a hockey puck or street hockey ball is desired. The present carriers that will accommodate in-line skates do not contain all of these qualities.